This application relates to an aircraft interior configuration that optimizes the service areas for both passengers and crew. The new design focuses on improving the flight experience of aircraft occupants based on factors that are often overlooked in improving cabin interiors—the cabin crew. At the same time, features are provided that enable revenue passengers to benefit from the atmosphere created by improving working conditions and ambience of the crew. The invention has particular application in wide body aircraft such as the Boeing 777X and 787 series aircraft.
Modern wide body aircraft have a series of doors that extend in spaced relation along the sides of the aircraft to permit simultaneous ingress and egress of passengers into the various service level areas of the aircraft. “Door 1” leads into the area directly aft of the cockpit area. The “Door 2” area typically leads to the business/premium class “Zone A” area to the left and the business class area to the right. The “Door 2” area typically includes several lavatories, galley units and fold-up crew seating for taxi, take-off and landing (“TTOL”) phases of travel.
In accordance with the disclosure of the invention described in this application, the overall service provisions and how all the products are perceived—including the seats, the galley area, the lavatories and the cabin crew—have been elevated by providing better working conditions and functional features to the cabin crew while increasing and improving the utilization and ambiance of the cabin entry and socializing areas for the passengers. The concept uses the ‘grand foyer’ concept of hotel and retail design to elevate the reception of crew and passengers as to the overall level of service provision via these design innovations. This concept elevates the reception of crew and passengers to an overall higher level of amenities and service by incorporating design innovations unique to aircraft.